Computer analysis of cytophotometric data is used to classify automatically cells from clinical cytologic samples. The objective assessment of single cells is extended to a quantitative characterization of the clinical sample, so that a diagnostic evaluation of the patients can be made. Recent work has concentrated on the search for clues to the presence of neoplastic disease even when clinical sampling failed to procure frank cancer cells. It appears that even the normal intermediate cells from the ectocervix carry diagnostic marker features which allow a correct patient diagnosis for the presence of malignant disease without ever considering the cancer cells. Since this finding has significant implications for strategies in the prescreening for cervical cancer, and for the biological interpretation of processes within the cervical epithelium, concomitant with the occurrence of malignant lesions, descriptive statistics for the marker features, and their discriminatory potential have been collected.